The Problem With Fireworks
by MindGame
Summary: Never trust anything given to you by Fred and George. Ever. Even if they are your brothers. And don’t EVER use it without reading the fine print first. You may want to read "A Story With A Disappointing Ending" first. HrR. !COMPLETE!
1. It's A Dud!

Follow up to "A Story With A Disappointing Ending." It's not absolutely crucial to read that one first, but it is a definite help. Originally it was just going to be it's own fic without tying into my other one, but it just seemed to fit so nicely, so here it is.

Summary: What happens to Ron and Hermione after the uneventful incident (sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it)? Fluffy goodness? Or yet another Disappointing Ending? Neither? Read to find out!

Oh, and I own as much of this as I will have after I'm done paying back my student loans. Current bank balance: $3,000 (alright, not even that much...I'm being optimistic). Loans per year: $20,000. You do the math.

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Ron followed Hermione as she headed back to the common room. Damn he wished he weren't such a pansy. She had been 2 inches from his face and he couldn't do it! He had been so sure she was about to tell him that she felt more than just friendship that he had decided to let her do it and save him the potential embarrassment. (A/N.....how thoughtful of him...really...). She even had her arm around him! That was a sure sign, he had thought. But nooo, she had to open the door instead!

"Damn," he said aloud, not realizing it.

"What?" Hermione asked, turning slightly.

"Err, nothing," he replied unconvincingly. Hermione said nothing, but continued down the hall. They soon reached the portrait of the fat lady, who was snoring quite soundly.

"Oh no!" Hermione exclaimed quietly (well as quietly as an exclamation can be, anyways). Ron, in an attempt to be helpful, started poking the fat lady's foot trying to wake her.

"Hey there, wake up you," he said. Unfortunately, she remained asleep.

"Oh Ron, what are we going to do! What if Filch catches us? We need to get inside." Ron decided it was safer not to point out that Hermione had just stated the painfully blatantly obvious.

"Well, I do have an idea, but it could backfire...really bad... if we get caught," he said, uncertainly.

"What is it?"

Ron reached into his robes and pulled out a small package. Hermione's eyes widened as she read the label.

"Ron, do you know how much trouble we could get into if we were caught?"

"Yeah, I do, but I don't really see any other way. It can't fail to wake her up, or at least have somebody in the common room poke their head out the portrait hole to see what's going on, that's for sure."

"Alright, but this could be _really_ bad..." Hermione said as Ron began to open the WWW Big Bang firework. (A/N WWW Weasley Wizard Wheezes in case you incredibly intelligent people couldn't for some bizarre reason figure that out. Lee, really, I can't believe you didn't know that! But I digress...)

After it was free of its packaging, Ron placed the firework on the ground a small distance away. "Incendio," he said, pointing his wand toward it. The fuse caught and flared brightly for a moment, and then...

Nothing. Nadda. Zip. Zilch. Zero. You get the idea.

"It's a _dud_?" Ron screamed, forgetting their current situation. "I can't believe the nerve of those two! Those, those...! I can't believe Fred and George gave me a DUD!"

"RON, be quiet." It was too late.

"What is all this noise about?" a voice came from behind them. To their immense relief, it was only the fat lady, who had finally woken up.

"Sorry," Hermione said quickly, "but you were asleep, and we've been waiting to get in for _ages_." She looked at the portrait as sweetly and innocently as she could. The fat lady seemed to buy it because she said nothing else on the subject.

"Password?"

"Jabberwocky," Hermione answered. The portrait swung open, and Hermione climbed in. Ron was just following her, and that was when the fireworks went off.

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Hehe, you have to love cliffhangers! Never fear, though, there's more coming...but I can be encouraged to have it come faster if you, oh glorious readers, review. You don't even have to tell me what you thought. Even just the work review is fine. I just want to know that people are reading it. And if you review for me, I'll review for you! I swear!

Oh, and the password "Jabberwocky" is borrowed from Lewis Carroll's poem by the same name, which can be found 

Sorry it's so short, but I don't have time to write more, and I really wanted to get it up!


	2. The Explosion

In case you couldn't figure out the math from before, I own nothing. Please review, I'll give you a cookie! (::)

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There had been many explosions in the halls of Hogwarts in the past. Some from spells gone awry, some from the inevitable student duels, and a great many were caused by Fred and George themselves letting off various Filibuster Fireworks and things of their own creation. None of these, however, even compared to the incredible feat of combustion currently going on outside the Gryffindor common room. 

The whole castle shook. The noise was nearly unbearable, growing in intensity as it reverberated through the halls. Ron wouldn't have been at all surprised if the people in Hogsmead could hear it. Thousands of multicolored lights exploded from it, bouncing off the walls in a dizzying phantasm of swirling colors, moving and expanding down the corridor at a tremendous rate.

The sheer force of the explosion knocked Hermione and Ron to the ground in a heap of limbs and robes, slamming the portrait shut behind them. Stunned, and a large bit embarrassed, Ron picked himself up off of the ground... or rather, off of Hermione who was laying on the ground gasping. She had, after all had the wind knocked out of her. Ron pulled her to her feet, and she stumbled forward as the explosive let off yet another round of fireworks in the hall outside.

"What the bloody hell is going on down here?" Harry asked, coming down the dormitory stairs. Ron and Hermione jumped apart, Ron blushing beet red.

"Err, well, we...uh....," Ron fumbled inarticulately.

"The fat lady fell asleep and we couldn't get back in, so Ron decided to try to wake her up by setting off some fireworks that the twins sent him," Hermione supplied. After a minute, she added, "Really, a bad idea, in retrospect."

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Ron said, a bit more harshly than he intended.

"Oh, it was just bloody brilliant Ron, really smashing," Hermione retorted.

"You agreed to it!"

"I never said it was a good idea!"

"It's not like we got caught!"

"Oh Ron, you great blithering idiot! Hermione shouted, completely unaware of the crowd of people disturbed be the explosion that was now gathering in the common room. (A/N has anyone besides me noticed that Ron and Hermione never seem to notice that half of Gryffindor Tower always seems to be listening to their arguments?)

"What?" he returned, affronted.

"Just because we haven't been caught yet doesn't mean we won't be! The fat lady will be able to tell Filch or one of the professors that we were there. Do you really think we'll get away with this?"

"Well just _maybe_ you should have thought of that before you let me light the firework!"

"Oh, so this is my fault now, for _letting_ you set the bloody thing off! You are unbelievable, Ronald Weasley!" With that, Hermione turned on her heal and stalked off to her dormitory, leaving Ron sputtering in the common room.

"Tough luck mate," Harry said.

"Gee, thanks Harry. That's helpful," Ron replied sarcastically.

"Hey, no need to start with me too," Harry answered defensively.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to, I just.... err, she's so aggravating! I save her from Filch, and this is the thanks I get."

"Well, not meaning to take sides or anything," Harry began, choosing to ignore the glare he was getting from Ron, "but lighting off something Fred and George sent you, in the middle of the night, without reading the fine print first is not exactly the smartest thing to do. I mean, it was from your brothers, and their not exactly known for small explosions."

"Yeah, but, what else was I supposed to do. We couldn't very well stay out all night."

"I don't know what to tell you."

"I just hope that Hermione doesn't stay mad at me. It wasn't really my fault, I mean she..." Ron was cut of as a very angry Professor McGonagall came in through the portrait hole in her tartan dressing gown, holding the now spent firework in her hand. Her expression was set and her lips were pressed thinner than anything Harry had seen before. After a precursory look around the room, she spoke, her voice trembling in rage.

"Somebody go fetch Miss Granger. And then, perhaps the two of you can tell me what, exactly, is the meaning of _this!_" She said the last part looking straight at Ron, holding out the used explosive.

"Errr..." was all that Ron could manage.

* * *

What will become of our dear Ron and Hermione? What horrible punishment lies in store? Will Hermione ever forgive Ron? All this and more, so stay tuned until next time! 


	3. The Aftermath

Ok people, I've figured it out. You don't actually think I'm serious about the reviewing thing... well I am. I promise, you review for me, I'll review for you. C'mon... Two cookies? (::) (::)

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Once Hermione had come down into the common room, McGonagall pointed them out into the hall. She said nothing, but marched determinedly towards her office. Ron and Hermione fell into step behind her. Hermione remained silent, but cast Ron a scathing look that clearly said "I told you so" and "I'msogoingtokillyouwhenwegetback" all at the same time.

Ron shuddered. He knew that there was no way on earth Hermione would ever forgive him for this. He sighed inwardly, knowing he had lost any chance of being with her, although for some reason it didn't strike him as odd that he should be thinking that particular thought when there were so much more serious things that he should be worrying about. Like the fact that setting off a firework of that magnitude in the middle of the night was just the sort of thing that could get a person expelled... especially since the two of them didn't exactly have the cleanest records when it came to rule breaking.

After what seemed like an eternity, they reached Professor McGonagall's office. She opened the door with quite a vengeance, Ron noticed with a slight shudder. McGonagall however, didn't seem to notice. She pointed with her wand through the open doorway.

"IN," she said, her voice still full of rage. Ron didn't think he had ever seen her so mad, not even first year when they were caught out of bed first year after seeing Norbert the dragon off with Ron's brother Charlie. Ron followed Hermione into the room, not daring to look her in the eye.

Once they were all in the room, McGonagall shut the door behind them. Ron gulped, knowing what was coming. He knew without looking at her that Hermione had tensed up and was now standing perfectly still and stiff as a board waiting to be screamed at. He felt bad for her. After all, it wasn't _really_ her fault, and he knew how much she hated disappointing anyone, especially her professors.

Ron and Hermione stood, waiting. Any second now, McGonagall was going to start raging at them. They were in _deep_ you-know-what, and they knew it. The pyrotechnics they were responsible for was going to seem like a mere sparkler compared to what was awaiting them. They were expecting it. So what happened next was a complete surprise.

"What, in the name of Merlin, were the two of you thinking?" she said slowly, her voice terrifyingly low, each word perfectly articulated. It was worse than being yelled at, Ron thought. At least that he knew how to deal with.

"What made you think you could actually get away with such and indiscreet act of, of recklessness and _utter_ disregard of school rules? And from _prefects!_ This is a serious infraction, one that simply cannot be overlooked."

Ron held his breath, he knew what was coming; she was going to expel them, he just knew it. What on earth was he going to do; there was no way to get out of it... and to think he had dragged Hermione along with him. Ron was sure his heart stopped beating momentarily before McGonagall uttered her next sentence. In the same terrifyingly low voice, she continued.

"After such a display, I am afraid I can no longer allow you to be prefects. Your badges, please," she said, holding out her hand. Ron wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. He couldn't believe they weren't being expelled. One look at Hermione's face, however, and any thought he had about laughing vanished instantly. She looked as if her best friend had died... and Ron was pretty sure the best friend was Harry, because there was no way she was ever going to talk to him again.

Ron pulled his pin from his robes and put it in McGonagall's outstretched hand, and so did Hermione, who looked like she was going to burst into tears any second. McGonagall was not done however.

"Furthermore," she continued, "fifty points each will be taken from Gryffindor, and you will each serve a week's detention. Now, shall I escort you back to the tower, or do the two of you think that you can manage to return to your dormitories without further incident? Go."

Knowing better than to say anything, Ron and Hermione left. Once they were a safe distance away, Ron turned to Hermione.

"Hermione, I-" Ron began, but was cut off as Hermione slapped him- hard- across the face. Tears were streaming down her face, and even in the dark, he could tell that her eyes were red and puffy.

"Don't talk to me. Ever." She spat at him. "I hope that you realize what you cost me Ron. Now I'll never be Head Girl. Are you happy now?!" She fairly screeched the last part, and without waiting for a reply, she took off running down the hall.

Ron stood rooted to his spot, his cheek burning where she had slapped him, but he hardly noticed. How could he have been so stupid, he asked himself. He really should have known better, should have listened to Hermione when she said lighting the firework was a bad idea. After all, she really did have a way of always being right about those things. And now she was never going to be Head Girl because of him. Never mind the fact that in about 5 seconds of sheer stupidity, he had just lost one of his best friends, and the girl he cared about most in the world.

"Ron Weasley, you great bloody git, now look what you've gone and done!" he said aloud to himself. He had to fix this. He didn't know how, but he had to fix this.

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So ends another chapter, I hope you liked it. What will Ron do to fix things with Hermione? Will it work? Or will it backfire spectacularly? Read to find out!

A/N: I know it might seem like Hermione was being a bit selfish about the head girl thing, nut she really wasn't if you think about it. I mean really, wouldn't you feel the same way?

Loved it, hated it? Review it. Pretty please with sugar on top!


	4. Ron's Decision

Onward to the next chapter...And I still own less than nothing... just so we're clear.

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As a product of growing up with 5 older brothers, Ron had always been a firm believer of letting someone else take the blame, or at least share in it if possible. That was just the way it was, especially with Fred and George as brothers. So it was completely against his nature to voluntarily take the blame for something... anything. But there was still this nagging feeling in his head that in this case, it really was his fault, and that he should take the blame for it to spare Hermione. As soon as he thought this, he promptly discarded it. After all, the time for that had already come and gone; McGonagall had already passed down the punishment, so that was that.

What happened the next morning at breakfast didn't help his situation, either. It seemed as though the twins had bewitched the ill-fated explosive to alert them when it was set off. Needless to say, that were quite amused (and perhaps even proud) that Ron had set the thing off in the dead of night, waking the entire castle in the process, and they let Ron know in the loudest way possible- a howler. Not to mention the fact that they used the incident as a shameless opportunity to advertise their newest merchandise, "Weasley Wizard Wheezes Big Bang Fireworks™ - So big, you'll think the universe is being created all over again! (Not entirely intended for indoor use)."

Anyone who had somehow managed to sleep through the uproar the previous night now knew what had happened, and it wasn't long before the full story was spreading like wildfire (or Big Bang Fireworks™) through the school. While Ron did not find this amusing in the least bit, Hermione seemed to think he did, and became even angrier with him, if that was even possible. He doubted she would ever even look at him again, let alone speak to him.

And so it was with a great deal of trepidation that Ron approached Professor McGonagall after their Transfiguration lesson was over that morning. At first she didn't seem to notice him because she was riffling through her desk drawer, looking for something. After a moment, he cleared his throat preparing to speak.

"What is it, Mr. Weasley?" She asked, her voice unusually hard, although Ron couldn't say he really blamed her. "I hope you are not trying to worm your way out of detention, because such an act would only place you in further trouble."

"No," Ron said, his voice scratchy, as though he wasn't quite sure about what he was going to say next.

Looking back, Ron was never quite sure why he said what he said, although he was fairly certain it had something to do with either the look on Hermione's face when the enormity of what she had lost sunk in, knowing that he was the cause of it all, or the guilt he felt at causing Hermione so much pain. More likely, though, it was a sickening combination of all three.

"No, I haven't come to try to get out of detention..." he started, the next words getting stuck in his throat.

"But..." McGonagall supplied expectantly.

"But the punishment you set last night was unfair," he said, rather boldly. McGonagall looked flabbergasted (A/N: isn't that a fun word?), and Ron continued before she had a chance to say anything.

"Hermione didn't deserve to be punished, and she definitely didn't deserve to have her prefect privileges taken away. The only thing she did was stay too late in the library," he wasn't entirely sure that's where Hermione had been, but it seemed likely, and he didn't think McGonagall would doubt it. He paused for a moment, and then continued.

"I went to go find her, but when we got back, we couldn't get into the tower because the fat lady fell asleep and we couldn't wake her up. It was _my_ idea to set off the fireworks. I though maybe it would wake the fat lady up so we could get back in. Hermione told me it was a bad idea, but I didn't listen to her. I had no idea the explosion would be so big, and I didn't mean to cause such a commotion, and I know that that's no excuse for me, but Hermione is completely innocent. Please, don't punish her for something I did, especially since she specifically told me not to light it," he finished in a rush.

Professor McGonagall said nothing for a moment, giving him a piercing stare, as if trying to decide whether he was telling the truth or not. After a moment, she turned away from him and opened her desk drawer. She pulled a small object out and held it in her hand for a moment.

"I assume I can trust you to return this to Miss Granger," she said, placing the object in his hand. "I hope you know, Mr. Weasley, that your punishment still stands, and I will be owling your mother this afternoon."

Ron gulped, but didn't say anything, knowing his mother would not be pleased with him at all, and that he could expect a _real_ howler tomorrow morning. Instead, he just nodded.

"You may go," she said to him. Ron turned and walked across the room, pausing at the door.

"Thank you Professor," he said. She said nothing in reply, but gave him a small smile and waved him out the door. He left, holding Hermione's prefect badge in his hand. Now the only problem was getting her to listen to him long enough to give it to her.

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Okay! Now it's your turn to tell me what you think. Should I leave it here, or write another chapter? Does Hermione forgive him, or does she hold a grudge? Do you want me to tell you, or do you just not care? I really want to do more, but if nobody likes it... But either way....

REVIEW! (please?)


	5. Chasing Hermione

YAY! Cookies for everyone who reviewed ::starts handing out cookies::

Thank you so much, I'm glad someone has been reading it! This makes me a very happy camper indeed! And I will try to take your advice, since it is actually good advice... except for the ones that contradict each other, as I can't have it end with Hermione both holding a grudge _and _forgiving Ron at the same time...or can I? ::laughs evilly! Mwahahahahahahahahahahahaha.... evil laughter ensues for quite some time::

Anywhoodles, onward!

Oh, and still, less than nothing... : (

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Ron knew that getting Hermione to stay in the same room as him long enough to give her the pin was going to be difficult. As it turned out, however, difficult was the understatement of the century (and even _that_ was an understatement). He may as well have tried to convince Hagrid that dragons really weren't pets and that Fluffy really wasn't "cute." And then some.

"You know," said Harry that evening at dinner, "she's not mad at me. I could give it to her for you."

"Yeah, but the whole point of this was so that she'd forgive me," Ron said, stabbing his food with his fork. "It seems kind of pointless to have somebody else do it."

"Well, I'm sure once she found out what you did, she'd forgive you, even if you weren't the person who told her," Harry pointed out. It seemed a rather obvious solution to him. Ron, however, it seemed, was going to be a stubborn prat and drag this thing out much longer than was necessary.

Ron sighed and didn't respond, but continued to mutilate his food. He didn't really want to talk about it anymore. Besides, he was anxious to leave the Great Hall; he could feel McGonagall giving him a "look." It seemed as though she knew he hadn't yet told Hermione that she had been reinstated as prefect, and wasn't happy about it.

Finally, Ron gave up trying to eat (or rather, gave up trying to kill his food), and stood up to leave.

"Going to try and talk to Hermione again?" Harry asked. "Because you know it's not going to end any better than it did after Potions, or during lunch, or after Charms, or-"

"Oh shut it Harry, I get your bloody point!" Ron snapped. Harry looked a bit taken aback, but didn't say anything. Ron's outburst was quickly followed by a groan as he sank back into his seat, his head in his hands.

"Oh bugger," he said emphatically, "you're right. This isn't going to work any better," Harry looked relieved for a minute. But then Ron spoke again, "but I still have to try, at least one more time," he finished, looking miserable.

"And if she doesn't listen?" Harry asked.

"If she doesn't listen this time, I think I'm going to feed myself to the giant squid and be done with it, because this is killing me," he replied with conviction. "I mean really, I know she's mad at me, but she won't listen even for a second. Well, I'm off to try again," he said, standing up once more. This was not a conversation he was looking forward to- again.

Some time later, Ron finally found Hermione sitting in the common room by the fire. She was doing her homework, not that he expected anything different from her. Hermione didn't seem to notice Ron's presence in the room; if she had, she almost certainly would have jumped up and left immediately. Rather than say anything, Ron simply stood and watched her for a moment, ignoring anyone else who happened to be in the room. This was probably a good thing, considering most of them were giving him odd looks.

Hermione was sitting cross legged on a small sofa, parchment, books, and spare quills filling the space around her. She had a book on her lap, and as she read, she moved the tip of the quill she was holding along, as if mentally underlining every line she read. The soft light from the firelight cast a warm glow around her, making her frizzy brown hair appear almost as a halo around her head, rather than a large mass of hair. Ron smiled in spite of himself. She looked so beautiful, so serene; it was hard to imagine that one look at him was all it took to send her off into a rage to rival his mother when she was angry.

Ron took a deep breath, and walked over to Hermione. He had already decided to try a different tactic than his previous attempts to explain what he had done, seeing as how this conversation had ended in something akin to verbal whiplash in the past. Rather than try to explain first and then give her back the prefect pin, he decided to give her the pin first, and then explain. He hoped that actually getting the pin would make her a bit more amenable to listening to what he had to say.

What one wants and what one gets are often two very different things, however.

He approached Hermione with caution. Unfortunately, she caught sight of him before he could utter a word.

"You!" she spat out, with, what Ron reckoned to be, more venom than a basilisk. "I thought I made myself perfectly clear to you before!" She hadn't bothered even trying to keep her voice down this time.

"Hermione..." Ron began.

"I told you, I don't ever want to speak to you again!"

"Hermione, I have..." he tried again, holding out his hand, which contained her pin.

"I DON'T CARE!" she screamed out. She furiously gathered all of her books and parchment, not even caring that she was getting ink down her front from her quill.

"Hermione, please, I have some..."

"I don't care what you have, Ron, I just don't want to hear it!" she stormed off to the girl's dormitory.

"Hermione, wait!" Ron yelled, trying to go after her, "Hermione, please, I have something for you!" It was no use; she had ducked into one of the rooms upstairs as he tried to follow her, only to be repelled back down by the wards set up to keep the boys out of the girl's dormitory. He landed sprawled on his back in the middle of the common room floor.

"Oh, bloody hell!" Ron shouted in frustration, painfully aware that everyone in the room was now staring at him. He picked himself up off the floor, trying to salvage the little bit of dignity he still had left. He failed to, though, when he noticed a group of second years in the corner giggling at him.

"Oh, sod off, you stupid twits!" he spat, more than slightly angry. This had the effect of eliciting another round giggles. Ron threw his arms into the air, and stalked off to his dormitory to "lick his wounds," so to speak. He was dreading tomorrow. Not only did he still have to talk to Hermione, but he _knew_ that there would be a howler from his mum waiting for him at breakfast.

Harry came up a few minutes later, and plopped himself down on his bed. He was about to ask how it went, but one look at Ron's face told him all he needed to know.

"Not so good, eh?" he asked, almost rhetorically.

"Gee, what gave it away?" Ron replied, his voice dripping in sarcasm. He sighed, and they sat in silence for a minute. And suddenly, Ron had an idea. A wonderful idea. Ron had a wonderfully horrible idea. He would dress up as Santa and...oh wait, that's the Grinch, never mind. But Ron did, actually, have an idea, it just wasn't wonderfully horrible... it wasn't really wonderful, either. But it was an idea.

"Hey, Harry, can I borrow Hedwig?"

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Alright, so ends another chapter. The next on will probably be the last one. Of course, that's what I thought about this one, so stay tuned!

Oh, and sorry for the Grinch moment, I couldn't resist! (it's from the cartoon version, btw... the only version worth watching, if you ask me)...err, it's late, so don't mind me...

And to Solo FLora...you'll see... the thought had crossed my mind, though...

And don't forget to leave a review on the way out!


	6. Ron's Plan in Action

Sorry if this chapter was long in coming, I've had a rough week with quite a bit of writers block... I hope this chapter is as good as the others, but I'm not sure it is.

Feel free to point out spelling errors and typos...a lot of times I type the wrong word, so spell check doesn't catch it b/c it's not spelled wrong, it's just the wrong word. I've already caught a bunch, but there's probably some I missed. I'll probably redo it at some point.

And still, less than nothing...

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It took Ron quite a lot of effort to get out of bed the next day. Between Hermione still being angry with him, the howler he was sure to get from his mother, and not to mention the incredible lack of sleep that goes with worry and stress, Ron was not sure at all that it wouldn't just be better to pretend to be sick and stay in the tower all day. He did, after all, still have a Skiving Snackbox or two left somewhere. But then he realized that it was a Wheeze's product that had caused all this in the first place, and the likelihood of a Wheeze's product helping him any was slim to none.

Besides, he needed to be there for his plan to work. Well, that wasn't entirely true, but he figured it would probably work better if he was there. After all, Hermione had a way of being extremely stubborn, and might not quite believe him.

And so, Ron forced himself to get out of bed and make it down to the Great Hall for breakfast before the owl post arrived. The trip to the Great Hall itself was rather uneventful. Ron did, however, feel bad for Harry, who was stuck walking between Ron and Hermione, neither of them having any reason to be mad at him. Somehow, Harry had managed to stay out of the whole argument, which came as quite a shock to most people. It was nearly impossible not to take sides in Hogwarts. They walked in silence for the most part; Hermione cast Ron several scathing looks which clearly said "imgoingtokillyouifyousayanything," all of which Ron promptly (and wisely) ignored.

The three of them arrived in the Great Hall about five minutes before the post was due to arrive, so they had just gotten themselves situated and ready to eat when the stream of owls began.

Usually, Ron enjoyed watching the owls swoop around the enormous ceiling, darting back and forth, trying to find the owners of the various letters and parcels that they were carrying. Not today, however. It didn't take him long to find Errol among the hundreds of owls that were now filling the Hall; after all, the scarlet envelope was a dead giveaway.

Ron moaned, covering his face with his hands as Errol landed with a thud on the table about 2 feet away from him, and then managed to bounce several times and land in his plate of scrambled eggs. If it had been any other morning, he would have found it highly amusing that an owl could actually bounce. Today, however, was a different story entirely.

Shaking slightly, Ron reached out and took the howler, noticing a very smug look on Hermione's face as he did so. Her parents didn't know about howlers.

Drawing a deep breath, Ron opened up the letter.

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY!" Mrs. Weasley's voice rang out across as the Great Hall fell silent. Everyone looked at Ron. Of course, by now, the whole school knew about the fireworks incident, but nobody could help but be interested in the howler; they were so highly entertaining as long as you weren't on the receiving end of one. Ron blushed scarlet, and sank as deep into his seat as he could, even failing to notice the snickers coming from the Slytherin table at the use of his middle name.

"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU! YOU'VE DONE SOME INCREDIBLY STUPID THINGS IN THE PAST, BUT THIS REALLY TOPS THE CAKE! OF ALL THE IDIODIC, HAREBRAINED... (she continued along this line for some time, much to Ron's chagrin)...AND THAT'S NOT EVEN THE HALF OF IT!"

There was a pause, as if Mrs. Weasley hadn't taken a breath for the entire first part, and now had to stop to inhale. Harry had to give her credit; she had an amazing lung capacity. It seemed as if everyone was waiting anxiously to find out what the half of it really was, and they didn't have to wait long to find out.

"IF YOU ABSOLUTELY INSIST ON GETTING YOURSELF INTO ALL SORTS OF TROUBLE, YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO DRAG OTHER PEOPLE DOWN WITH YOU. I'M SURE THAT THE WHOLE THING WAS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT, BUT YOU JUST HAD TO DRAG POOR HERMIONE INTO IT TOO, DIDN'T YOU. HONESTLY, DON'T YOU EVER USE YOUR BRAIN? ONE MORE INCIDENT LIKE THIS AND I WOULDN'T WANT TO BE YOU!"

Mrs. Wealsey's irate voice finally petered out, leaving Ron sitting, mortified, and trying, ineffectively, to disappear. Hermione, on the other hand, was practically glowing. She was actually smiling for the first time in two days, even if it was more of a smug grin.

The laughter eventually died down, until the Slytherins were the only ones left making jokes at Ron's expense. Everyone had returned to eating, except for Ron, who was trying to brush scrambled eggs of a very uncooperative Errol, and was muttering "ruddy owl" under his breath every so often.

A few moments later, Hedwig swooped in. Nobody really took any notice; it wasn't unusual that an owl or two would come in late. She landed (much more gracefully than Errol had) in front of Hermione.

"Harry, I think you owl is confused," Hermione said, as Hedwig refused to budge from her spot next to Hermione. Hermione took the letter from the owl, and handed it to Harry.

"I don't think so, Hermione, this letter is addressed to you," he said, handing it back. Hermione looked baffled, but took the letter, slitting the seal with her knife. She pulled the letter out, and as she did so, a small gold object fell out onto the table. Hermione, unfortunately, failed to notice this. So did everyone else. She read through the letter quickly (Ron hadn't written much), and looked vaguely confused. She rechecked the inside of the envelope and scowled. She turned to Ron, and said the first words she had voluntarily said to him in two days.

"Ron, you great bloody git," she said. At first glance, one might think that she was calm. However Ron knew that she was, in fact, so angry that she was beyond yelling.

"If you think that _this_ is at all funny," she waved the letter in front of his face, "you have another thing coming." She didn't wait for an answer, but turned on her heel and stalked out of the Great Hall. Ron just sat there, gaping.

It was Ginny who spoke next, which surprised Ron because he hadn't even realized that Ginny had been sitting across from Hermione.

"What was that all about?" she asked, just as confused as Harry and Ron.

"I don't know," Ron replied.

"What exactly did you write?" Harry asked, thinking maybe Ron had unwittingly insulted Hermione in his apology letter.

"All I wrote was that I was sorry for dragging her into this, and that I went to McGonagall and explained what happened and that I got McGonagall to reinstate her as prefect, and here was her pin back. That was it, and I put the pin in the envelope and sealed it and sent it off with Hedwig. Well, I sent it off after I told Hedwig to come in after the howler was done so I could talk to Hermione," Ron said. He then put his head in his hands and moaned. (A/N Ron seems to be doing that a lot this chapter doesn't he...or is that just me?)

The three of them sat in silence for a few moments, until Ginny happened to look across the table.

"Oh dear!" she exclaimed, reaching across and plucking something from the tabletop beside Hermione's plate.

"Is _this_ Hermione's prefect pin, the one you put in the envelope?" she asked, holding the pin out to Ron.

"Oh bloody _hell!_" Ron nearly shouted. "She never even saw it... she thought I was just...." he trailed off, unable to finish his thought. "Oh bugger! Now what?"

"Well," said Harry carefully, "you could always just let me give it to her and explain the situation for you..."

Ron looked up and started to say something, and then thought better of it. He was just too bloody tired to put up with this anymore.

"Fine," he said, defeated, "just fine."

"Oh no!" Ginny squealed looking at her watch, "I'm late for class!" she said, dashing out if the Hall. Ron and Harry looked at each other in horror.

"Potions!" they said in unison, and dashed out behind Ginny. It was going to be another very long day.

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Ok, next chapter is the last, I promise! So much for the 4 chapters I had planned.... Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, by the way!

**Brooke Monica** Sorry that you thought the last chapter was frustrating... this one probably was too, huh? I promise it will get better!

**Niteflite:** I'm glad you enjoyed the "grudge-age." It was really fun to write! And the Grinch is the Greatest... YAY!

And thank you also to **Solo Flora, e, Mental, **and** Some one** for ch. 5 too!

Hopefully this will be finished by the end of the weekend, but I doubt it seeing as how I have a paper due for cellular biology... blech!


	7. The Truth Told

**Disclaimer:** My sister and I used to have this game called the yes and no game, where you switched the words yes and no, and anything positive with its opposite (like "I love cake" became "I hate cake"). Well, I am currently playing the yes and no game, so the disclaimer reads thus:

I own everything.

You get that?

**Niteflite:** Sorry, but that's not going to happen. Harry's too honorable to take the credit, and Hermione's smart enough to realize that Ron has been trying unsuccessfully this whole time. Besides, I _am _one if those "incredibly sappy RHr fans." The only way HHr is going to happen is if I bring back my parody on the love lives of Hogwarts.... (sooo not going to happen b/c that one really stunk...it's gone for a _very_ good reason.) Anyways... I appreciate that you don't want to be responsible for a mauling... though I may have just made _myself_ repsonsible for a mauling...err, well, you'll see (grins evilly). And thanks for the typo check!

**Solo Flora:** I know, it really is cruel, isn't it? Mwahahahahahaha! This one may or may not be shorter.... I don't really know

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Ok, here's the deal. 

I could bore you with the details of just how bad a day it was for Harry and Ron, between being late for Potions, forgetting their Herbology homework, and Ron getting glared at all through out the day by Hermione, and by Professor McGonagall in Transfiguration (she obviously knew Hermione didn't know that she was a prefect).

And then you could all murder me for dragging this out for another chapter without any form of a resolution in sight.

Or, I could skip said difficulties and go straight to that evening, after class when Hermione finally learns the truth....

Yes, I think that's what I'll do.

Ready...set...go!

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After Transfiguration, Harry and Ron headed back to their dormitory. It had been an exhausting, not to mention horrible day. Ron was trying to look on the bright side, though; at least they didn't have Quidditch practice today- with his luck he'd probably end up getting pummeled with a bludger or something. 

It was a mark of just how horrible a state Ron was in that he was actually _glad_ there was no practice. (A/N for details...refer above _points to extensive author's note in the beginning_)

Ron really hoped that Hermione would listen to Harry when he explained the whole pin issue to her, because he didn't think he could take having to go and explain to McGonagall that he was incapable of informing Hermione himself. That was not a conversation he wanted to have.

Unfortunately, Ron wasn't 100 percent sure that Hermione would listen to Harry, either; she was a bit annoyed at him for being late to Potions and forgetting his Herbology homework. So in the end, all Ron could really do was hope for the best.

Once they arrived in their room, Ron threw his school stuff on his bed and immediately began rummaging around in his nightstand, looking for Hermione's pin. When he couldn't find it at first, he panicked. Then he realized that he had locked it in his trunk so he wouldn't loose it.

"Geeze Ron, calm down," Harry said. "Seriously, I'm getting dizzy just watching you."

"Sorry," Ron apologized, "I'm just...nervous I guess. I mean every other attempt to sort this mess out has failed miserably, so I'm just worried that this one will too."

"Don't worry so much Ron," Harry said, taking the prefect pin from his friend, "I'm sure once I explain everything to Hermione she'll understand and everything'll go back to normal."

"I hope so," Ron said, looking incredibly tired, "because I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"It's ok...I'll go give this to her right now, and she'll be talking to you again by dinner," Harry said cheerfully as he walked out of the room, leaving Ron alone to hope for the best.

Ron sat upstairs for nearly an hour before he decided that if he stayed up there another minute he would go mad. He decided that he would go see if Hermione was back yet; he was sure Harry would have taken her somewhere other than the common room to explain the whole...situation. If she wasn't, he decided he would get some of his schoolwork done; after all, it had been sorely neglected for the past few days.

Ron made his way to the common room, setting his school books down on a table. He absently shooed Crookshanks away after the cat made an attempt to dive-bomb his books. He was about to sit down and start his homework when the portrait hole opened up and Hermione burst through.

She looked rather red in the face, and her hair was unusually frizzy. This, in addition to the fact that she was somewhat out of breath gave her the appearance of one who has just run a rather long distance in a short amount of time. Harry was nowhere in sight, and Ron guessed that wherever he was, he had decided to walk at a more moderate pace back to the common room.

Before Ron knew what was happening, Hermione had thrown her arms around him and was hugging him a bit more tightly than was absolutely necessary... or comfortable for that matter.

"Oh Ron! I'm so sorry! All this time you've been trying to tell me what you'd done, and I kept yelling at you! Oh, I must have been horrible. I'm so sorry... I was just so mad, and then I didn't see the pin in the envelope and I just thought you were being a git when you were actually being decent!" Hermione rushed, still hugging him rather tightly. Not knowing quite what to do, Ron placed his arms lightly around her, feeling rather awkward.

"Err..." Ron began. He mentally smacked himself....what kind of response _is_ that, anyway? Fortunately, Hermione didn't seem to notice. She just continued to hug him. Ron was rapidly becoming very aware that _everybody_ in the room was staring at them. It wasn't until now that Ron appreciated just how many people actually lived in Gryffindor Tower.

Hermione seemed not to notice that Ron had yet to say anything (anything articulate, anyway), and looked up at him, eyes begging for forgiveness.

"It's ok," he said, looking down into her beautiful brown eyes, "if anything, I should be apologizing to you for getting you into this whole bloody mess." It was really one of the more brilliant things he had ever said to her, because in that moment, he sensed that everything was ok; some sort of critical test had been passed, and no trace of the animosity that had been there just a few hours ago remained.

"Oh Ron," Hermione said, "I- ..."

Whatever it was that Hermione had been about to say, nobody ever found out because Ron chose that moment to lean down and kiss her. It was a small, chaste kiss, more of a peck really, than anything else, and it was over before Hermione even had a chance to react.

"Sorry," Ron said, stepping back, "I didn't mean... err... ummm... I just kinda......" He didn't really know what to say, but the fact that she was just standing there, not moving, wasn't encouraging.

"You just kinda kissed me, that's what," she said, her tone unreadable. Also a bad sign. This was not good.

"Yes...I suppose I did...." Ron stammered, not knowing what else to say, and taking another step backwards. He could feel the stares boring into him from the people who were all intent on this exchange. Hermione still hadn't moved. She looked thoughtful for a moment, as if considering something carefully in her mind.

"Oh, what the hell," she said quietly, more to herself than anyone else. With that, she took two purposeful strides, closing the distance between them once more. Before Ron had a chance to move, she captured his face in her hands and planted a kiss firmly on his lips.

A cheer erupted from the people around them.

"Finally!" somebody pronounced, sounding a bit exasperated, and a bit louder than they had intended. Laughter broke out among the crowd, and the two stepped apart, looking mildly embarrassed. Hermione stood on her toes and whispered into Ron's ear.

"Would you like to move this somewhere where we don't have an audience?" she asked, a bit sheepishly. Ron just nodded. It was then that Ron caught sight of Crookshanks, looking rather pleases with himself, over by the pile of homework that he had left sitting on a table when Hermione had burst in. He looked a bit closer.

"Hermione, your bloody cat just... just... went... all over my homework!"

Several people rolled their eyes, while others groaned.

Ron was not the smartest of boys...

---

Fin.

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Errr, would it be too much to ask for y'all not to murder me? 

SO, what did you think? Yes, no, maybe so? My first multi-chapter fic! Finished!.... but never fear, I have plans...including an Epilogue to "Religion," and a H/G songfic to "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon... and maybe something to "Me and the Moon" by Something Corporate... we shall see... so stick around folks... there's plenty more where that came from... and you can trust me to be original and never follow the "formula"...mwahahahahahaha!

Oh, and review for a cookie! (::)


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